Park Seonggyeon’s lips trembled as he let out a terrified murmur.

"Wha-what... Why is it doing this..."

He tried to back away from the System Window shoved in his face, but his back hit the wall almost immediately.

He must have known physical force wouldn’t work, but he still swatted at the air, trying to make the window disappear.

I approached Park Seonggyeon, pretending I had no idea what was happening.

"Are you okay?"

"Hk!"

Park Seonggyeon, trembling violently, flinched and swung his index finger at me.

I’d already anticipated his reaction — I dodged his attack by a hair’s breadth.

"Lieutenant Park!"

Mo Haein’s voice cracked like fire, her eyes blazing.

But Park Seonggyeon was already out of his mind. He charged at Mo Haein, screaming.

"AAAAARGH!!"

Normally, Mo Haein would have dodged him easily, but right now she was busy dodging Tarantella’s attacks and the note gimmick.

"Ngh...!"

She gritted her teeth. Red blood seeped through her clenched jaw, trickling down the corner of her mouth.

Mo Haein, her abdomen impaled by one of Tarantella’s toy legs, suppressed the pain and swung her Black Moon Blade.

A long gash opened across Park Seonggyeon’s chest.

He crumpled to the floor, then took a barrage of hits from the note toys pouring from the ceiling — his body caved in all over.

A dissonant chord rang out as Park Seonggyeon’s screaming body shimmered into a patchwork of rainbow colors.

Then — crash.

He collapsed into a pile of toy blocks. Dead.

’Three hearts. He’ll revive.’

We hadn’t hit any save points on the way here, so he’d probably respawn in the lobby.

"Damn it..."

Mo Haein looked at me, her eyes wavering. She’d be judged dead soon too, and lose a heart.

Despair, frustration, and helplessness filled her eyes as she looked at the civilian who’d be left alone before the boss.

Mo Haein spat out the words like rapid fire.

"Listen carefully, civilian! Dying here doesn’t mean you’re really dead. You’ll revive, so stay put wherever you wake up, and I’ll — !"

But she couldn’t finish. She crumbled into toy blocks.

Seeing her worry about me made guilt prickle in my chest.

Sorry, Captain Mo Haein. I’ll make it up to you when you get back.

When she revived, she’d prioritize protecting the civilian over tracking down Park Seonggyeon.

I calculated how long it would take for Mo Haein — who’d be waiting in the lobby for me to respawn — to realize something was wrong and come back to the lab. Then I looked up.

Princess Tarantella was staring down at me.

Ding! A System Window appeared.

◆ Main Quest: Soothe the Angry Princess Tarantella.

All your companions have died. You are alone.

Only you remain to face the angry spider.

You wish to soothe Princess Tarantella. To do so, you must win the battle.

The boss’s target had shifted to me now.

Notes poured from the ceiling as all eight legs lunged at once.

The attacks came in a chaotic flurry, but they weren’t hard to track with my eyes. This was a section I’d cleared without a single death in the game too.

’Movement feels fine.’

The Trial granted you the minimum physical ability needed to clear it as a baseline.

It was strange how easily my body moved exactly as I willed it.

"——!"

Tarantella, who hadn’t landed a single hit, let out a high-pitched shriek.

Phase 2 had begun.

The cascading notes vanished, and Tarantella started spewing yarn webs in every direction.

The webs severely restricted the player’s movement — get caught, and you’d be helpless as the boss killed you.

’Wonder if the glitch strategy works too.’

I didn’t have much time. I was thinking of trying a bug exploit to clear it fast.

Of course, the success rate was low.

It’d worked in the game, but I had no idea if it’d work here.

I charged straight at Tarantella. The key was moving before the webs were fully in place.

I stepped on each of the eight legs, leaping upward until I reached the top of Tarantella’s head.

Ugh.

From where I’d planted my feet, a maw full of densely packed teeth was visible just a handspan away.

If I failed, I’d fall straight into that mouth.

’But I still have hearts left, right?’

I pushed off with all my strength, leaping toward the darkness of the hole in the ceiling.

Everything was pitch black.

My body, which had risen to its limit, began to fall.

A faint chill crept over my skin.

The thought of the pain I’d endure if I failed sent a cold shiver down my spine.

A short fall.

My feet touched ground.

"Haaah..."

I let out the breath I’d been holding. I looked down.

Tarantella, having lost its target, floundered for a moment, then shot out a web.

The glitch only available in Phase 2 was hiding on the foothold in the ceiling hole.

If you waited on the ceiling foothold — a bug that shouldn’t exist — Tarantella would lose track of its target, act erratically, and eventually award you a victory.

Tarantella, now spewing webs in only one direction like a broken machine, lifted all eight legs at once.

Then it coughed up a cocoon, and its four-part mouth closed back into a smiling face.

"——..."

A child’s crying sound emerged as the spider toy collapsed to the floor.

The boss fight was over.

You have won the battle against Princess Tarantella!

I used Tarantella as a platform and climbed back down.

The cheerful chiptune music had shifted to a melancholy tune.

The cocoon Tarantella had coughed up crumbled away, revealing doll parts.

They were the limbs of the prince doll.

I collected the doll parts and put them in my inventory.

"..."

Tarantella hadn’t moved a muscle the whole time.

I took out a Nut Candy and slid it toward Tarantella.

Suddenly, Tarantella’s leg twitched.

The pincer at the end of its leg clicked weakly, trying to grab the candy, but kept missing.

I unwrapped the Nut Candy and placed it where I assumed its mouth was.

The smiling face split open slightly, and it swallowed the candy. Tarantella, which had been slumped over until a moment ago, seemed to regain its strength and lifted itself up.

The chiptune music had shifted to a gentle, soothing melody.

Tarantella looked at me and stretched a leg upward.

The spider climbed the wall with its toy legs, slowly disappearing into the darkness of the ceiling.

All that remained was a yarn cocoon.

’I already got the doll parts, though?’

I picked up the cocoon, puzzled. The yarn unraveled, revealing a small candy.

Bolt Candy: Click-click, upgrading toy...

It was HapFactory’s hidden item — Bolt Candy.

Bolt Candy temporarily boosts attack power and physical abilities significantly.

Unlike Nut Candy, it can be used without wearing toy limbs.

It could only be obtained once in HapFactory, and only through a secret quest.

It was also the hidden item I’d been planning to find before Mo Haein returned to the lab.

But for Tarantella to give me the Bolt Candy...

This was the first time a boss had handed over a hidden item.

HapFactory’s toys hate adults.

In the true ending route, the toys do develop some fondness for the player, but it’s more like ’not hating them.’

Something like this — giving gifts — shouldn’t have been possible.

’Come to think of it, Sad Smiley also said something about wanting me to be its owner.’

The whole "let’s be together forever" thing was creepy, but technically it was a statement of affection.

I pocketed the Bolt Candy, picked up the prince doll that had fallen to the floor, and reattached its limbs.

I put the completed doll in my inventory, then looted a triangular flask filled with rainbow-colored liquid.

I started walking, lost in thought.

’What if there’s another ending besides the true ending?’

When I reviewed my playthrough, the only difference was one thing.

My blood had gotten on Sad Smiley.

In the game, unless it was a specific event, getting wounded didn’t cause items to get blood on them.

’First things first.’

This was an opportunity I’d worked hard to create — to get separated from Park Seonggyeon and Mo Haein. I couldn’t afford to get lost in contemplation.

I left the lab and headed for the next stage: the warehouse.

I scanned the prince doll’s eyes to unlock the warehouse door and stepped inside.

There was a hidden space in the warehouse.

A space that could only be found by collecting the sketchbook papers scattered throughout HapFactory, crafting an item, and solving the clues based on that item.

The contents of the sketchbook papers were as follows:

Unknown Paper #1

To save the princess who fell ill, the prince summoned an evil demon.

Unknown Paper #2

The princess, having gained the demon’s power, grew healthy! But she became a terrible monster.

Unknown Paper #3

The princess, trapped in the tower, lives an eternal life. The princess hates becoming a monster and wants to die.

Unknown Paper #4

But no matter what she does, she cannot die. Forever...

Unknown Paper #5

The enraged princess pushed the prince from the tower.

The prince shattered into pieces and died.

The princess envied the prince’s fragmented death.

When all five papers were collected, they transformed into a storybook item.

Unknown Storybook: A crude storybook made by drawing pictures in a sketchbook with crayons. It seems to have been made by a young child.

And at the end of the storybook, one more page was added.

WANNADIEWANNADIEWANNADIEWANNADIEKILLMEKILLMEKILLMEKIEDIEKILL

This was the core of HapFactory’s main story.

But since I already knew all the clues the storybook would provide, I didn’t need to wander around the factory collecting papers.

Instead, I looted tarot cards — marked with the crown and tower symbols from the storybook — inside the warehouse.

Then I approached an old cabinet tucked away in a corner, barely visible.

I pulled on the door of the long metal cabinet. Clunk. It didn’t open.

Seems to be locked...

In the game, a System Window would pop up here.

But if you stubbornly tried to open the door over ten times —

The cabinet door broke!

A chime would sound, and the door would swing open.

Instead of a chime, I heard the sound of a lock breaking.

Doll parts came tumbling out of the opened cabinet. All of them were dismembered prince dolls.

I emptied out the doll parts and instead placed the completed prince doll and the items I’d gathered from the lab and warehouse inside the cabinet, then closed the door.

A flash of light seeped through the cracks in the cabinet. I waited for the light to settle, then opened the door.

Inside, all the other items had vanished. Only a single Bolt Candy sat there, alone.

’Two Bolt Candies now.’

This was an item I’d never managed to get two of before. I pondered the best use for them and called up the System Window.

’Park Seonggyeon’s status window.’

I checked his status — nothing had changed except that he’d used one Nut Candy in the meantime.

Come to think of it, when I’d sent him that Message earlier, I’d been able to see his System Window.

Normally, you couldn’t see other people’s System Windows, but since Message was something I’d created, I guess it was visible.

’But if I’m the System, shouldn’t I be able to see everything from the start?’

As soon as I raised the valid question, a square popped up as if it had been waiting.

Your lack of ability.

It seemed too lazy to say the same thing twice — a pretty half-hearted response.

I’d gotten what I wanted to know, so I let the System Window’s apathy slide.

I started prepping while I waited for Mo Haein, who should be arriving soon.

There was a running gimmick from the warehouse leading into the next stage.

You had to dodge falling debris from a collapsing building, so I cleared the obstacles in advance to prepare.

Just as I moved the last chair, Mo Haein appeared.

"Hah... you... how..."

She was panting, like she’d run here at full sprint.

Mo Haein, gripping the warehouse doorframe, stared at me blankly, scanning me from head to toe.

Having confirmed I was unharmed, she clenched her jaw and walked toward me — Black Moon Blade still in hand.

The black obsidian blade pressed close under my chin. Mo Haein looked up at me and asked.

"Civilian."

"Yes."

"You can see the system windows, can’t you?"